Attal was born on 16 March 1989 inClamart,Île-de-France. He grew up in the13th and14th arrondissements of Paris with three sisters. His father, Yves Attal, was a lawyer and film producer; his mother, Marie de Couriss,[a] worked as an employee of a film production company.[2][3] His father wasJewish and his mother aRussian Orthodox Christian; Attal was raised in his mother's Orthodox Christian faith.[2]
His earliest political activity was participation in the2006 youth protests in France.[6] Taking up a place at Sciences Po in 2007, he created a committee for the support ofÍngrid Betancourt, the Franco-Colombian hostage held by theFARC.[7]
In the2014 municipal elections, Attal was placed fifth on theSocialist Party list. He was elected as one of the four Socialist Partycouncillors ofVanves and took over the lead of the opposition, after the resignation of the head of the socialist list.[9]
Attal was quickly considered one of the most talented new members of parliament, withAmélie de Montchalin.[11] As adeputy of the National Assembly, he became a member of the Committee on Cultural and Education Affairs, where he served aswhip of thegroup La République En Marche!.[12]
In December 2017, Attal was appointedrapporteur on a bill on access to higher education.[13]
Attal was named chairperson ofLa République En Marche! in January 2018[14] and in September 2018, after the election ofRichard Ferrand to the presidency of the National Assembly, he ran as a candidate to succeed him as president of the group La République En Marche!, but withdrew his candidacy the day before the election when he was considered one of the three favourites.[15] He later endorsedRoland Lescure.[16]
In July 2023, Attal was appointed minister of national education and youth in the2023 French government reshuffle.[19] At the age of 34, he became the youngest person to hold that office under theFifth Republic.[20] In this position, he announced theban on abayas under the "principle of secularism", extending a ban on religious symbols in French public schools that already included Christian crosses, Jewish Kippahs and Islamic veils.[21][22]
Following Borne's resignation as prime minister on 8 January 2024, media sources announced Attal as favourite to succeed her.[23] His appointment as prime minister was announced on 9 January 2024. At the age of 34, he became the youngest and the first openly gay person to hold the office in France.[24]
Lacking a parliamentary majority as a result of the2022 legislative election, Attal formed aminority government, the second one since the start of theMacron Presidency. He appointed what was widely described as the most right-leaning cabinet since Macron took office, with over half of his senior ministers previously coming from the conservativeUMP/LR party.[25]
At the beginning of his tenure as prime minister, Attal was seen as one of the most popular politicians in France.[26] The French media speculated that he was a potential contender in the2027 presidential election.[27][b]
On 9 June 2024, Macron called a snap election after his party's disappointing results in the 2024 European Parliament election.[29] Although he was not in agreement with Macron's decision, Attal took on the leadership of Macron's Ensemble alliance's election campaign.[30][31] In the first round of voting on 30 June, Ensemble won only 20.0% of the votes, in third place behind the far-rightNational Rally (RN) with 33.3% and the left-wing allianceNew Popular Front (NFP) with 28.0%, which constituted the worst electoral performance for a ruling coalition in a general election since the establishment of theThird Republic in 1870. Attal said that the priority was to prevent NR from gaining an absolute majority in the National Assembly and asked Ensemble candidates in third place against NR in their constituencies to withdraw from the second round of voting.[32] The second round of voting on 7 July resulted in Ensemble winning 168 seats, behind NFP with 182 and ahead of RN with 143.[33] Attal offered his resignation to the president the following morning, only for it to be refused by Macron, who asked him to stay on for the time being in order to maintain the stability of the country.[34] Attal retained his own seat in the Hauts-de-Seine's 10th constituency with 58.2% of the vote in a contest against NFP candidate Cécile Soubelet.[35]
On 13 July 2024, Attal was elected unopposed as leader of the Renaissance Party in the National Assembly with the support of 84 of the 98 Renaissance members.[36] Macron formally accepted Attal's resignation on 16 July 2024, but at the same time asked him to remain in place as head of a caretaker government.[37]
On 5 September 2024, President Macron appointed Michel Barnier as the new prime minister. At the handover ceremony the following day, Attal made a speech in which he expressed his frustration at having had only eight months in office – too little time to see any of his plans come to fruition. On leaving the office of prime minister, he took on leadership of Macron's party in the National Assembly.[38]
When they were both attending the École alsacienne, Attal had a relationship with singerJoyce Jonathan,[42] but Jonathan said that the relationship was merely "a joke between us" and "a playtime crush".[43]
Attal said in a TV interview that he had been subjected tohomophobic bullying at school, implying that the culprit was Branco, though Branco denied this.[2] He has also described being the target of homophobic andantisemitichate speech onsocial media as a politician.[44]
^When his parents divorced, Attal added de Couriss to his name.[1]
^Macron is not eligible for a third consecutive term in office; the president of France is only allowed two consecutive five-year terms in office and Macron was elected in2017 and2022.
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